Cold
by aussie-chick-13
Summary: After a particularly stressful training session, A sixteen year old Cub is left freezing and in soaked clothes in the team's hut. The men don't notice he's in trouble. When they do, will it be too late? Chapters 2 and 3 have been removed to be rewritten. Oneshot until further notice.


_This just came to me after going for a bike ride, on a beach in really cold winds whilst the basketball team my dad coaches was training. I got home freezing, limping and basically just went in to my room and collapsed on my bed. Just a heads up I haven't read the latest two books and only vaguely remember the other books. This is pretending that Alex worked for MI6 until he was 16 (but did pass his GCSEs) then they decided to send him back to SAS for more training over his summer holidays. Fox tolerates him but the rest of the unit still don't like him. The ending's slightly abrupt but eh. This has been checked by me but not beta'd  
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_When Cub stumbled into K-Unit's hut just 10 minutes before dinner, none of the men even looked up. If they had they would have seen a soaked, shivering, limping 16-year-old boy with eyes that had seen too much to be forgotten.

It had been 2 years since they first met Cub but it didn't change the fact that having a kid in their unit was embarrassing. He did manage to keep up at trainings, most of the time.

Seeing him use a gun for the first time was certainly a shock. Cub hadn't even been allowed to participate in the shooting exercises last time, but someone had obviously taught him how to shoot. None of them had really known what to say and Cub didn't offer any information so it wasn't talked about. Wolf was actually kind of impressed with Eagle's self-control. He was normally insanely curious about anything. But something in the kid's eyes had told them to leave it alone.

Being the unit's leader however meant that he had some responsibilities and one was making sure that all the members of his team were at least functional. Wolf sighed and put down the gun he'd been cleaning and stood up. He turned to Cub's bunk, which was once again shoved in the corner looking extremely out of place. Wolf was slightly taken aback, he knew that Cub never fell asleep until the rest of the unit had and always slept with his back to the wall. The fact that the kid hadn't even changed out of his clothes and it looked like he had just fallen onto the bed meant that he was either totally shattered or acting.

"Hey Eagle look," Wolf jerked his head towards Cub. Eagle looked around and rolled his eyes.

"Wonder what's up with him he never sleeps like that," Eagle observed and not exactly quietly either.

"He was with Sergeant Robinson, you know how he is," Fox cut in, he glanced at his watch. "Come on guys, we're going to be late for dinner," Eagle looked at Cub again.

"What about him?" He asked looking to Wolf. The unit leader shrugged.

"Cub. Cub!" Wolf barked. When he got no response he shrugged again. "The kid knows the rules, if he doesn't turn up to dinner he doesn't eat. Let's go," The three other men headed towards the door following Wolf out. Snake was the only one to spare a glance back in Cub's direction but even he didn't notice.

Maybe if one of the men had bothered to check Cub, things would have turned out differently. Maybe if one of the men had taken a better look at the teenager they would have noticed the uncontrollable shivers racking his body. Maybe they would have seen the pale, sickly pallor of his face and the unhealthy blue tinge to his lips and fingertips. Maybe they would have realised that Cub was lying in clothes soaked from the freezing Wales rain. Then again Cub was an embarrassment to the unit.

Right?

Alex hadn't even said anything. He'd coughed. That was it. But the sergeant, being the psychotic sadistic freak he was managed to twist an innocent cough into a personal attack against him. Alex had stayed out another hour after the rest of the men had gone in. He had run his circuit until he threw up and then some. About 10 minutes in it had started to rain. Well, rain wasn't really the best word for the stuff falling out of the sky. You know half melted slushies? It was closer to that. An icy slop that soaked through your clothes and chilled you to the bone. When the Sergeant had finally let Alex go he could barely walk and was so exhausted he struggled to keep upright. Every step hurt and he was dreading the few stairs up to the hut entrance. He was shivering from the cold and his chest was uncomfortably tight. He couldn't even bring a hand up to rub the sore scar tissue above his heart. The stairs were a serious struggle and Alex came very close to throwing up again. He limped into the team's hut ignoring the men, he was only interested in his bed. He collapsed onto the hard mattress extremely grateful to be off his feet and lying down. He fell asleep almost instantly, he briefly considered changing into dry clothes but it all seemed like way too much effort.

Without Cub around at dinner K-Unit was able to interact with the other units more. They stayed for a while after the meal in the mess hall with J and D unit as all three units had the night off. After a good hour and half and several games of cards. Snake got up and excused himself. The others say goodbye and quickly got back to their poker game. Eagle took pity on Snake and left too, not wanting for Snake to have to deal with the awkwardness of being alone with Cub. He quickly jogged to catch up to the older man.

"Hey! Snake, wait up!" Snake was walking pretty fast. "What's up? You looked distracted back there too. What's going on?" Eagle questioned. Aside from Cub Eagle was the youngest in the unit but despite that and having a reputation as a prankster he was surprisingly observant. Snake sighed.

"I don't know, it's just," The older man stopped walking and turned to Eagle suddenly. "You don't think it's just a bit weird that Cub limps in and falls straight asleep? Something's just not quite right," Snake continued walking, with Eagle following close behind.

Maybe if the unit hadn't stayed after dinner, they might have changed things. Maybe if Snake had acted on his suspicions earlier he might have got there in time. Maybe he would have seen the shivers before they stopped. Then again, Cub was 16 surely he could fend for himself.

Right?

Snake opened the door and flicked the light on. The first thing he noticed was that Cub hadn't moved. At all. That in itself was odd. Cub wasn't a deep sleeper; he tended to move around a lot when he was resting. It had woken Snake up on more than one occasion. He quickly moved over to Cub bedside and reached out a hand to gently shake his shoulder. The boy was freezing, and his clothes were wet. Snake's eyes when wide as he realised the kid had been like this for almost two hours. In an instance Snake's medic training took over.

"Eagle, go get Wolf and Fox," he snapped.

"Um sure but why-"

"Eagle," Snake cut him off. The younger man quickly realised that whatever was wrong with Cub was pretty serious. He turned and ran to the mess hall. Snake turned back to Cub he was lying worryingly still. Snake leant down, the teenager was definitely breathing. He pressed two fingers to the boy's wrist as he reached for the blanket off the closest bed. Cub's pulse was weak, but at least it was there. Snake carefully removed the sodden jacket and threw the blanket over Cub's body. Only now did he notice Cub looked way too thin for a 16 year old boy. Snake propped Cub up carefully against the wall, making sure the blanket stayed around his chest. The medic wrapped his arms around the kid's shoulder trying to warm him up. As he had hoped the extra warmth helped Cub wake up a bit.

"Hey, Cub. Can you open your eyes?" Snake asked, just as Wolf burst in the door following by Fox and Eagle. He took in the situation in an instance.

"Snake what's wrong with him?"

"Hypothermia quite severe too," The combination of Wolf's voice and the sudden loud noise of the door, startled Cub awake further. He opened his eyes slowly. Snake sighed in relief, his pupils were responsive to the sudden light intensity change.

"Hey Cub, can you tell me where you are?" The teenager looked around slightly confused.

"Um Brecon Beacons…. SAS training….thingy," Snake nodded.

"Ok can you tell me what 12 times 12 is?" Eagle frowned at this question. Snake was quizzing the kid about his times tables?

"Snake? What-"

"Eagle shut up," Snake cut him off for the second time that night. Wolf glared at Eagle and moved closer to Cub's bed. He trusted the medic to know what to do.

"Um 12 times 12…is…12…what? Why are you asking me?" Cub asked obviously confused his words slightly slurred. The kid looked like he was having quite a bit of trouble breathing too. Snake frowned, that wasn't a good sign.

"Cub can you touch your forefinger to your thumb for me?" The four men watched as Cub struggled to make his fingers do what he was asked to do.

"I...can't…they-" at this the teenager's eyes rolled up and he slumped over. Snake immediately checked his pulse. He couldn't feel anything under Cub's still icy skin.

"Wolf start chest compressions. Fox radio the infirmary. Severe hypothermia, patient has lost consciousness and is going into cardiac arrest. Eagle run up to the infirmary make sure they get the message," After a brief second of shock the SAS soldiers' training kicked in. The speed of their actions would be the difference between life and death for Cub. Wolf frowned as he carefully counted compressions and then signalled to Snake to start 'rescue breathing'. Cub was just a kid and now he could die. And Wolf couldn't help but feel responsible.

Maybe if he had paid more attention to the youngest team member, this would never have happened. Maybe if he had stood up for Cub, he wouldn't be lying here now, cold and unresponsive. Maybe if he hadn't been such an asshole the first time the kid was here, Cub would have asked for help, instead of always trying to go it alone. But Cub was strong he'd pull through this.

Right?

Cub took a shuddering breath and coughed weakly.

"Cub," Wolf said silently thanking God as he backed away to let Snake take over.

"We need to get his chest warmer, if we don't he'll slip back into a coma," Snake said.

"Go get the other blankets and cut a couple of pillow we use the padding as insulation," Snake told Wolf while pulling off Cub trousers leaving him in boxers. He used the blanket already on Cub's bed as a towel patting the teen's legs dry, making sure not the encourage too much circulation in the boy's legs. Snake heard the sound of a flick knife being opened then a pillow being ripped open. _Hold on, Cub, just for a bit more._ He directed Wolf to drape the some of the blanks over the Cub's hips and stomach as Snake pulled off the still damp tee-shirt.

"Oh God…." Snake whispered staring at Cub's chest.

"What? Has he stopped breathing again?" Wolf questioned from behind Snake. He moved to look over the medic's shoulder.

"Why aren't you doing some- What? Is that what I think it is?" He trailed off. Snake brushed his fingers over the pale scar on Cub's chest.

"He was shot in the heart," Snake said quietly, before shaking his head and placing another blanket on the boy. "We'll have to deal with this later Wolf, get him warm," Fox walked over with an armful of pillow filling.

"Here," Snake carefully packed the warm material under the blanket. As he did Eagle ran through the door with two field doctors close behind. The doctors immediately started talking with Snake. The other three team members retreated outside. Wolf was silent as he stared into the dark. Eagle stood panting for breath and Fox was just thinking. Wolf was the one who broke the silence in the end.

"He was shot," Wolf said evenly. Fox looked up and Eagle jumped at the sudden noise.

"What?" they said in unison.

"Cub. He was shot. It doesn't look recent but it does look messy,"

"Where?" Eagle asked. Wolf just gestured to his chest.

"What? As in his heart? How is he alive? Why didn't he tell us?"

"I don't know Eagle. I don't know," The silence from before quickly settled again. Snake joined them soon after, but didn't say anything. The events of this afternoon had shocked all of them and had given each one a lot to think about.

Maybe it wasn't a bullet wound just some weird surgery Cub had had as a kid. Maybe those other scars littering the boy's torso were just from being adventurous as a child. Maybe that look in the boy's eyes that was too old for his years was just their imagination. But like they almost constantly pointed Cub _was_ still a kid.

Right?


End file.
